Earth First! and the Anti-Roads Movement Earth First! (EF!) is one of the most controversial and well known green movements in the world and the driving force behind the anti-road campaigns of the 1990s. Detailed accounts of major anti-road campaigns, both in the UK and internationally, are included, describing confrontations at Twyford, Newbury, Glasgow and the Autobahn in Germany, as well as information on the globalisation of Earth First!, with details of protests in Australia, Ireland, Germany, France, Holland, Eastern Europe and North America. Earth First! and the Anti-Roads Movement traces the origins of the movement and the history of anti-roads activism in Britain since the 1880s. EF! organisers describe how they took on their green activist identity, the launch of both EF! and the anti-roads movement in the UK, and experiences of dramatic protest. Exposing the tensions between EF! and other green activists, they explain the social and economic influences on and the culture and politics of protest. Showing how green social and political theory can be linked to practical struggles for environmental and social change, Derek Wall investigates key topics of political and sociological interest. This is an authoritative work based on passionate and lyrical autobiographical accounts from activists, blended with a strong theoretical grounding in critical realism and social movement analysis. Derek Wall is an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Social and Political Movements, University of Kent at Canterbury, and a green activist. Earth First! and the Anti-Roads Movement Radical environmentalism and comparative social movements Derek Wall London and New York First published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, NewYork, NY 10001 © 1999 Derek Wall This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Wall, Derek. Earth First! and the Anti-Roads Movement: radical environmentalism and comparative social movements/Derek Wall. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Earth First! (Organization) 2. Environmentalism. 3. Green movement—Citizen participation. I. Title. GE195.W34 1999 98–47372 363.7’0576–dc21 CIP ISBN 0-415-19063-0 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-19064-9 (pbk) ISBN 0-203-01068-X Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-20425-5 (Glassbook Format) To Gillian, Larry and Vincent There are these large pieces of metal hurtling around at high speed in residential areas. They are such a menace to life and limb that every journey made by any other means is chiefly spent dodging these monstrous objects. They are the single biggest cause of atmospheric pollution and global warming. They are the largest market for the warmongering oil industry. Their noise is the noise of the city. These ‘cars’ are so central to the organisation of this society, especially the organisation of work, that an illusion has to be maintained that nobody sees anything wrong with the ever increasing number of cars. (Control 1991:5) Contents Acknowledgements xii List of abbreviations xiv 1 Earth First!, profits last—no more roads! 1 Monkeywrenching, the Met and military intelligence? 1 Critical realism and social movement methodology 9 2 Car wars 17 Introduction 17 Prehistory 19 Autobahn 21 Birth of the motorway 23 From ‘not-in-my-backyard’ to green protest 24 Closing the motorway box 27 The prophet 30 The 1980s 33 The rise and fall of green politics 36 An old social movement 38 3 The origins of Earth First! 40 Introduction 40 Resource mobilisation and repertoires 41 Earth First!’s origins in the USA 43 Failed Earth First! mobilisations in the UK 45 Earth First! Hastings 46 Rainforest campaigning 50 Divisions 54 The evolving character of Earth First! (UK) 59 Earth First! and the anti-roads movement: 1992–5 61